Introduction
Zip car organization was a business that was established for sharing cars with its roots in Boston. The business was established from a financial model and business structure that would allow it to take off as a start-up. Following later operations lessons and new information, the business revised and developed another finance and business structure design that would improve their performance and growth. The business aimed to expand to the rest of the nation and across the globe. The writer will explore the original financial and business plan formulated by the business. The author will analyze the second financial and business design that was developed later after the business had gathered some information about the markets and the operations of the industrial sector. The analysis will be used to give the strongest argument that would make Zipcar appealing to the investors. The analysis will determine the potential of the Zipcar and possible weaknesses. The writer will evaluate the management of the weaknesses by the business towards the investors. The writer will employ the analysis to recommend the best elevator pitch for the business for the spring board forum.
Strongest Argument that would make Zipcar Appealing to the Investors
The strongest argument that would make Zipcar business appealing to the investors would be the target market, the success of similar business elsewhere, the role and function of the management, and the expected future development and strategic plan. The target market for the new venture would be used by the investors to determine the effective entry and penetration of the new business as well as the profitability of the venture. The indication that the new business aimed to satisfy an already established need in the market that the public transport sector, the car hire services, and the taxi businesses had failed to satisfy would be appealing the investors.
The second aspect of the argument that would make the venture more appealing to the investors would be to indicate the success of similar organization in the settings that are similar to the business environment. The success of similar organizations and the indication of the lack of provision of the services that will be provided by the Zipcar will be employed by the investors to determine the worth of the business. Investors have many investment choices that they have to scrutinize and determine the ones to fund. The selection is driven by the expected gains from the venture that should reflect on the time-value of money. The investors would prefer business models that have been successful elsewhere and use the benchmarking strategy to evaluate the success of the new firm. Indicating the success of the similar business and emulating the designs that the organizations employed would depict the sun sequent success of Zipcar. In addition, the business indicated the consideration of the designs that had been employed by the similar businesses and used them as the bench mark to plan their product differentiation, target market, and marketing mix. The design would be more appealing to the investors since it indicated the limitations of the existing similar businesses that the new firm intended to solve (Myra et al 5).
Potential of the Zipcar
The potential of the Zipcar was founded in the presence of a need that was not satisfied in the society. The car hire businesses and the cab services had not customized their products to suit the private users that would require private cars for short durations around the urban centers and from the urban to the rural areas. The car hires offered services for a long duration while the cabs eliminated the personal use of the cars that were driven by the taxi drivers. The public means of transport did not provide personal and private transport services at the convenience of the users. In addition, the targeted area had limited competition from similar businesses and had limited threats of the new entries and similar products. The organization had the potential of creating demand for their unique value proposition to the users that could be exported to the rest of the US. In evaluating the global businesses, the model that was assumed by the business had succeeded significantly in other places such as Germany and therefore, it would be viable in the US (Myra et al 4)
Weaknesses of the Business
The business was relying on borrowed information from other parts of the World that could have had different conditions that enabled their success. The business success was determined by the operations of the car hire, Taxi services, and the public transport. The design was risky since the Taxi and the car hire sector dominated the car lending industry and could respond by product and service differentiation to the entry of the new car sharing design. It was highly possible and cost-effective for the car hire and Taxi Companies to shift their operations to assume the mode employed by the Zipcar. The organizations had higher competitive advantages as compared to the new entry firm. Lastly, the business had not considered the legal aspects that could influence the operations of the industry such as parking fee that influenced their estimated pricing significantly within the six months of their operations. (Myra et al 7)
Zipcar Approach to Address the Weaknesses towards Investors
Zipcar should address the weaknesses of the venture by keying on the target market and the presence of the need to be satisfied as well as the expansion potential of the organization. The founders indicated marketing mix that would be used to address the challenges that may arise from competition from similar products, and changes in the regulations. In addition, the owners convinced the investors on the success of the business by evaluation of the success stories of the similar organizations elsewhere and citing the lack of such businesses in US.
Recommended Elevator Pitch for the Spring Board Forum in the Business
The success of the business would be highlighted in the lens of the opportunities available, risk of similar products, as well as product differentiation and customization rather as well as on success stories. Financial metrics should be used to indicate the initial performance of the business as well as the utilization of the available funds through effective planning and resource allocation. The pith should highlight in the competency and determination of the business executives and their willingness to work without pay until the business has been established. In addition, the pith should highlight on the manner of funding that would be venture equity that would allow the investors to own part of the business and reap in its future expansion. The initial monetary and service contribution of the founders’ should be used to indicate the confidence of the founders towards the success of the venture.
Works Cited
Myra Hart, et al. Zipcar: Refining the Business Model. Harvard Business School Publishing, Boston,, 2002. Accessed 7 Jan. 2017. Print
